1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for protecting a battery pack, in which an insulating film member and a support member are installed in a housing surrounding the battery pack, and the insulating film member is designed to be wound around the support member fixedly installed in the housing so that it is able to be unwound from the support member.
2. Description of the Related Art
The high-voltage system of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), or an electric vehicle (EV) is made up of a high-voltage battery, an inverter, a low voltage DC-to-DC converter (LDC), an electromotive compressor, and a high-voltage motor (FIG. 1). To drive typical electric and electronic components other than these high-voltage components, an auxiliary battery (e.g., a 12V lead acid battery) is used.
To meet the energy and capacity requirements, a battery cell stack and module are provided in a restricted space of the HEV, PHEV or EV. However, there is no spatial margin between battery cells except for a cooling channel nor is there a margin between batteries irrespective of if it is a serial or parallel connection.
With the electric motorization of the HEV, PHEV or EV, the space for mounting the battery becomes limited. Thus, mounting the battery in a tire well, a dead space typically used to store a tire and tools, has been considered. However, when the battery is installed in the tire well, there is the possibility that the battery will be punctured by a sharp object or a beam during a rear-end collision. Thus, there is safety issues associated with its placement (FIG. 2). In detail, when an object, e.g., a nail, punctures a battery pack, battery cells become punctured thereby causing a short circuit.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that has already been known to those of ordinary skill in the art.